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In the countdown of Chinese New Year's Eve, fireworks are brilliant, and the camera turns to a burning car in the fire, a girl crying and running, a boy holding a child with a panicked expression, a pair of bloodstained hands, and a man who has fallen to the ground after being stabbed.
"Faint Fire" kicks off the story in such a strong contrast.
The suspect who subsequently turned himself in was suspected of self-defense after being subjected to domestic violence for a long time, and the bridge collapse case of her husband's company was revealed when she was interrogated by the police...... came up for a few minutes, Nanya (played by Tong Yao) staged a domestic version of "Dark Glory" with the high story density and impact of "Faint Fire".
And the truth about the death of her husband Xu Yi (played by Liu Junxiao) is becoming more and more confusing under Nanya's more and more calm answers to the police's inquiries, and the policeman Lao Chen (played by Tian Xiaojie) said that "the suspicion is that these things are tightly fitted", and it can't help but make people speculate whether it is an upgraded version of "She Who Disappeared".
The intricate and implicit relationship between the characters, the interrogation that wants to stop talking, the pull of legitimate defense and premeditated for a long time, as well as the just right soundtrack, the sultry and steaming atmosphere, and even the rare filming location of the suspense drama to Wuyuan...... all make "Faint Fire" dyed with a unique artistic atmosphere that is different from common suspense dramas.
After watching 5 episodes, it is not just a suspense drama. Under the art, dream, and suspense, "Faint Fire" brings the audience a deeper, profound, and even richer care and expression of human nature, "In the suspense drama, we have made a leapfrog exploration and taken a big step forward. It is not an ordinary conventional suspense drama, there are many new breakthroughs in form, carrier, and structure, and it has jumped out of the framework of a suspense script, and has also broken through the boundaries of suspense dramas, and has done more excavation and display of human nature. Yao Xiaofeng, director of "Faint Fire", analyzed.
"Faint Fire" director Yao Xiaofeng
Xie Ying, vice president of Youku and general manager of the drama center, said that "Faint Fire" is different from ordinary pure hardcore suspense dramas, it is highly artistic, and uses an innovative narrative to present a murder that happened in a closed town around the millennium. This drama not only brings an immersive audio-visual feast, but also shows deep human care.
As the opening work of the White Night Theater, Youku has also consolidated the innovative exploration and content cultivation of the suspense drama genre through "Faint Fire".
A "cold" woman
Playing the ultimate aesthetic "script killing"
In 2023, Dong Eun, who was forced to drop out of school due to school bullying in "Dark Glory", returned from being blackened after many years of hibernation, forbearance and coldness, and set off another wave of revenge dramas with the mantra "Yeon Jinna". In 2024, Nanya, a female character who has suffered from domestic violence and is suspected of killing her husband in self-defense, will appear on the screen.
The difference is that the development of the story of this "cold" woman is like "Disappearing Her", which is a constantly reversing script killing. There's no doubt that "Faint Fire" has a clear main mission, but it takes a fresh approach to storytelling.
It constantly leads to the characters related to the story, and outlines the past intersection with Nanya, Xu Yi and others in its narration or memory, or the timeline of the behavior before and after the case, but does not reveal all the stories, but unrevealed, and a fragment brings out an answer and another question, peeling back the cocoon and creating suspense layer by layer.
In Lin Fanglu (played by Ye Zuxin), the eyewitnesses of the case were questioned Zhou Luo (played by Zhang Xincheng), as well as his three friends Zhang Qingli (played by Wang Zixuan), Chen Jun (played by Zhao Haohong), and Jiang Bingbing (Tu Zhiying During the timeline and action trajectory of the night of the case, Zhou Luo had been answering at home, so that Zhang Qingli, who had come to him halfway through the fireworks, found out that he had lied, and then the private conversation between the two made Zhou Luo's action trajectory at that time revealed, and the time of online chat also created a seemingly alibi proof for Zhou Luo, but he still did not answer the reason why he was holding Nanya's child in the opening scene and hurried under the fireworks.
Lin Fanglu went to Lao Chen's house as a guest and met Lao Chen's daughter Chen Ling (played by Huang Lu), after outlining the relationship between Nanya and the Chen family through the words of Lao Chen's wife, the camera directly turned to the hospital where Chen Ling worked, the nurses discussed Nanya, Chen Ling, Xu Yi, and Dr. Jiang's gossip. The emotional entanglement between Nanya and Xu Yi was also shown in front of the audience, and her cursed words back then and her gloating expression now inevitably made people wonder whether she had something to do with this case.
It was also with the reappearance of Dr. Jiang in the mouths of the nurses this time, and the follow-up Lin Fanglu and Zhou Luo brought Nanya's daughter to the hospital for treatment, and Dr. Jiang, a person related to the case, also officially appeared and accepted Lin Fanglu's interrogation. Later, Dr. Jiang's warning to Zhou Luo, his worries in the office, and the book "Murder of the Dentist" that Zhou Luo read, etc., also indicate that Dr. Jiang's story line has not been completely solved.
In addition, such as Zhou Luo's reasons for dropping out of school, as well as his acquaintance with Nanya, Lin Fanglu's acquaintance with Nanya when he was young, etc., all create suspense between the unrevealed.
Relevant characters continue to appear, I will answer if you ask but with reservations, as if everyone has a secret unspoken, everyone maintains a sense of mystery, "Faint Fire" leads the audience to immerse themselves in revealing the relevant characters and the final truth, giving people a sense of "Qingshui Town script killing".
And this "script killing" is matched with the ultimate aesthetics.
The patchwork of Hui style buildings and the rainy weather render a hazy and mysterious atmosphere for "Faint Fire", which also makes those emotions and stories more profound; Every shot is like a rich musical and full of charm; Lin Fanglu, who heard someone calling him in the alley in the millennium, turned around, it was the meeting between Nanya and himself when he was young, and through the special session of footsteps and shouts, he completed the memory link between reality and the past; and at the corner where you can see Nanya's shop, Lin Fanglu, who tracked down the truth in reality, was at the same frequency as Zhou Luo, who had stopped here in the past; even the shadow of poetry often appeared in the play, and the poetry collection is the carrier of the intersection between Nanya and Zhou Luo, and it is also "Faint Fire" Language ...... metaphors and expressions
"I am more eulogized to the brilliance of human nature and the charm of poetry, poetry and distance are more need of poetry, more need of beauty, I need to use the lens to express the beauty of the environment, but also to show the beauty of the two souls, to show the lens of people, the beauty of the image, the beauty of the portrait, must be shot beautiful and clean in order to make them feel incompatible with this town, in order to be completely stand out from the crowd. Yao Xiaofeng said.
"Script killing" and "literary fan", "Faint Fire" constructs an emotional suspense drama with a unique temperament.
The liveliness and innovation of a closed town
In addition to the sense of suspense and "literary fan", "Faint Fire" has landed again.
When a case comes, the tranquility of the town is shattered, and the daily lives of the town's residents and vivid characters are brought to the table.
Patches of rape flowers can be seen in "Faint Fire", closed towns where everyone knows each other and there are almost no secrets, ladies with permed hair sit in front of hairdressers, watching passers-by and chatting about their families, in the unheated south, they need an electric blanket to warm up on winter nights, and families sit by the fire and roast food while chatting......
Coupled with the blessings of hairstyles, clothing, props, etc., "Faint Fire" pulls the audience directly back to the real southern town of the millennium.
"Faint Fire" creates a group of vivid, three-dimensional, and plump characters in this real town.
Nanya, who runs a clothing store, has her own opinions and pursuits about beauty and art, she is elegant and decent most of the time, but she will also talk about her ladies, and see the cunning side of her character, she is often not afraid of the gossip of most people in the town, but she can't bear it when facing her husband who has been abusing her for a long time.
Zhou Luo, who was a good student representative in the town before, can remain calm and calm whether he is facing many inquiries from the police or "confronting" with his elders, but when he repeats and gets along with the other three friends, he can get a glimpse of the youth and soaring of young people, and after meeting Nanya, the calm Zhou Luo is often offline, and the impulse of young people also follows.
Lin Fanglu and Lao Chen, who have completely different personalities and case-handling styles, are like a control group, the former believing in evidence and trying to keep himself sane in handling cases, while the latter is more experienced and uses previous experience in handling cases to find breakthroughs or investigation directions in new cases. But the two make up for each other, Lin Fanglu, who works hard and reasonably, insists on finding the truth, while the experienced Lao Chen sifts through the various possibilities of the case in the memory bank.
Sister Guixiang (played by Wang Qing) is proud of her son Zhou Luo on the one hand and has great expectations for him, and on the other hand, she knows the power of talking in Qingshui Town and tries her best to hide the real reason why her son comes home from college;
There is more than one side to everyone, and the residents of Clearwater Town are alive and real.
And the advancement of the story of "Faint Fire" is carried out in the daily life of this group of vivid group portraits. Investigation is the main line, but the lives of most residents of Qingshui Town are also carried out daily in the play, they will follow fresh events, and they will worry about their children's work, feelings, and studies; every conversation with relevant people in life may be a temptation and inquiry; information and speculation are circulated and ......screened in the parents of the streets and alleys, true and false, "Faint Fire" is closer to a life suspense drama.
Shaping characters and advancing cases in life, "Faint Fire" has completed an innovation in the suspense genre.
Suspense is the shell, igniting the fire of "human nature".
But "Faint Fire" brings the audience more than just a sense of suspense. Under the suspenseful shell and story, "Faint Fire" reflects and cares for reality and predicament. In this closed town, there is nowhere to hide secrets, prejudice is stubborn, and rumors are extremely decibels. Nanya, who is beautiful in appearance and has a different style of acting than most women in the town, has become a defamatory existence for most people, which has led to the "victim guilt theory" that has always appeared in Nanya. In a short period of time, the reason why Zhou Luo came home from college in the town was from sick leave, and it was rumored that he was expelled from drug abuse and prostitution, and even the title of the top student in the college entrance examination that year was considered fake.
Sister Guixiang also knows the power of gossip in the town, so she chooses to hide it when she is asked why Zhou Luo went home, and she will hesitate when she asks her son to repeat his studies or continue to conceal the future and face issues related to his withdrawal status. The closed town reflects the sophistication of the acquaintance society, and also shows the destructive power of rumors.
And tearing apart the seemingly perfect marriage, Nanya suffered from her husband's long-term domestic violence, and even directly affected her daughter's physical health because of domestic violence;
Even Lin Fanglu and Lao Chen's two styles of handling cases, Lin Fanglu said to Lao Chen: "I rely on forbearance to solve the case." Resist not wrapping personal emotions, prejudices and intuition into the case, not rushing to make a conclusion to anyone, not confirming your own assumptions through reasoning, and resisting and testing every detail until everything forms a closed-loop chain of evidence. And when Lao Chen explained Wang Guihong, another party involved in the murder of her husband because of domestic violence, he said, "At that time, the whole village was speaking for her, and at that time, the crackdown was already a light punishment", and other circumstances inevitably caused thinking about the law and the law, and the law and the situation.
The slogan of being admitted to a key university shouted by the repeating school, and the trio of Qingshui Town who did not study well to resist the high demands of their families for their studies, etc., reflected the state of education at that time, and also discussed the relationship and balance between education, parents and children.
In this closed town, where humanity has nowhere to hide, "Faint Fire" carries layers of issues and ignites a fire to explore human nature.
Director Yao Xiaofeng analyzed the title of "Faint Fire" into three meanings, one is in line with the dark temperament, the fire is bright and very weak, and it is very difficult to find a little bit of fire and sparks, which is very difficult to expose, which is in line with the temperament of the detective; Third, it is human nature, although the brilliance is in the dark place, but as long as there is brilliance, it can still bloom, and the beauty of human nature is precious, although there is only a little bit now, it can burn the prairie fire.
At the moment when the suspense theme is becoming popular, whether it is "Dark Glory" praised by international streaming media, or the dark horse "Disappearing Her" on the domestic big screen, their direct portrayal of current social issues and the continuous reversal and coolness of plot creation are the key to making the audience flock to it, and when it comes to "Faint Fire", it is also cold and high-energy, and it is also Youku's re-extension and innovation of suspense dramas under the creative trend. Its expression of human nature and humanistic care under the suspense shell is also another way for Youku to continue to maintain its care for reality and human nature under the continuous upgrading of suspense dramas.